Conventionally, on a dashboard of an automobile or the like, analog-type or counter-type meters, and indicator lamps using, for example, electric bulbs, LEDs, etc. have been used mostly. Further, for digital display or indicator display of numbers, a segmented liquid crystal display unit also has been used generally.
However, recently, a dot matrix type image display device such as a liquid crystal panel display device also has come to be used on the dashboard of the automobile or the like. That is, at least a part of the dashboard is formed of a dot matrix type image display device capable of displaying an arbitrary pattern, and meters such as a speedometer, various indicators, and the like are displayed as images.
Thus, the use of the dot matrix type image display device for the dashboard of the automobile or the like allows the dashboard to have various display patterns. For example, the kinds of meters, indicators and the like to be displayed, and the arrangement or size thereof can be changed dynamically, if required. Further, for example, it also becomes possible to display, side by side, images of meters together with images of scenes outside an automobile photographed by a CCD (Charge Coupled Device) photographing device or the like, images for navigation, etc., and thus, the images of meters and the images other than those of the dashboard can be combined to be displayed.
For example, FIG. 1 of International Publication No. 2007/114,116 discloses an information display system that detects state information indicating the state of each part (mechanical operation state, physical state of each part, etc.) of a mobile object such as an automobile, and displays an image required for driving the mobile object on a display device, based on the detected state information. In this system, a DPF controller generates image information (MEN, SEN) based on the state information. The generated image information is given to a drawing controller. Then, the drawing controller reads a command list corresponding to the image information from a command table to execute commands, and consequently, an image corresponding to the state of the mobile object is displayed. The drawing controller is, for example, an image processing LSI. The load on the DPF controller can be alleviated by executing screen drawing with the image processing LSI, and hence, there is an advantage that the DPF controller can be realized with an inexpensive microcomputer for incorporation.
Among image information to be used in the conventional information display system, the MEN (Main Event Number) refers to a number for reading a command list for rewriting an entire screen. On the other hand, the SEN (Sub Event Number) refers to a number for reading a command list for rewriting a part of a screen. The MEN and SEN are called an SDN (Scene Design Number) collectively. In the conventional information display system, a layout screen and an element image suitable for the state of a mobile object or the event that has occurred can be displayed by generating two kinds (MEN and SEN) as image information.
FIGS. 10A and 10B are screen examples of an information display system defined by an MEN and an SEN. FIG. 10A shows a display example of an ordinary traveling screen, and FIG. 10B shows a display example of a back traveling screen. On the ordinary traveling screen of FIG. 10A and the back traveling screen of FIG. 10B, individual MENs are defined respectively.
For example, the ordinary traveling screen of FIG. 10A includes element images such as a left winker lamp 201, a right winker lamp 202, a speedometer 203, a navigation screen 204, and a navigation screen frame 205. Further, the back traveling screen of FIG. 10B includes element images such as the left winker lamp 201, the right winker lamp 202, the speedometer 203, and a back CCD camera screen 206. Each of the element images is assigned a specific SEN for each display mode. For example, the left winker lamp 201 has two kinds of display modes: an ON state and an OFF state, and the element image indicating an ON State and the element image indicating an OFF state are assigned SENs having values different from each other.
The MENs and SENs to be used for a display are determined by matching the state information collected from each part of a mobile object with a predetermined rule in the DPF controller.